To Every Man A Demon
by iEvenstarEstel
Summary: They say every man has his demons, and Connor's has Abby.


To Every Man A Demon  
2010 Evenstar Estel

Helen Cutter was dead, to begin with. Danny had assured everyone of the fact. He'd checked her pulse and there was none. Her ribcage had also been crushed by the fall from the cliff and the weight of the raptor. However the evil bitch was both evil enough and bitchy enough to still haunt them all from the grave. They'd been back from their sojourns in the past for only three weeks - Abby, Connor and Danny were safe and sound where they belonged. Connor was back in the flat with Abby and they were... _sweet_ with each other. They hadn't quite taken the plunge, but they were always together, and close together. There were innocent kisses on the cheek and smiles and walks hand in hand.

The team were out investigating an anomaly as usual. It was in an underground parkade and so far as they could tell, nothing had come through. Connor quickly locked it down and they thought they were in for a rather dull evening. They even went so far as to speculate about opening the anomaly again and taking a peek at the other side.

Abby sighed and started to wander off. She had things on her mind and she couldn't think about them with Connor _right there_ distracting her. Their relationship had definitely evolved. Whatever it was they had now, she cherished. She felt a bit like a silly teen with her first real boyfriend. She'd never been shy in the past, but something about Connor made her blush. She thought it was because he made her feel truly special. It was clear that he was amazed and grateful that she wanted to be close with him. How she never saw his finer qualities was a mystery to her now that she'd discovered them. She supposed that their relationship had its own course to run before reaching the new levels. Abby smiled to herself, things were finally going right for them. Lost in her thoughts, she was caught completely unaware when the meaty fist collided with the side of her face. She let out a sound of shock before she was enveloped by darkness.

Connor's perked up when he thought he heard a sound. It sounded like the jingle jangle of the silver bangles Abby had been wearing on her wrists. He looked around him and didn't spot her. It was his nature to immediately panic, he couldn't help himself. He stood up from the chest containing equipment he'd been sitting on and looked beyond the perimeter that Becker's men had positioned themselves around. "Guys, where's Abby?" Connor asked, voice tinged with worry. Danny, Becker and Sarah reacted and fanned out to search. Connor helped himself to a gun from the weapons chest the soldiers had at their disposal and took off in search of Abby.

It took little time to find her, given the fact that her captor wanted to be found. The team arrived on the scene more or less at the same time, draw by Abby's cries of pain. What Connor beheld made his blood run cold. The familiar and much feared man that Helen Cutter had used as a foot soldier and executioner had Abby. Her eye was already beginning to blacken and rivulets of blood ran down the side of her face. Her arm was twisted up behind her back held firm in his grip and his other massive hand was closed around her neck. They'd never known if he'd had a name, he was always identified among ARC personnel as _The Cleaner. _He wasn't dressed in the military gear that they'd always seen him in. He was wearing what looked to be hospital scrubs. The manner of his appearance was irrelevant, he'd taken Abby hostage. Abby's eyes were wide and terrified, with tears streaming down her cheeks. She was fixated pleadingly upon Connor, who like Becker and Danny held his gun up and pointed it at Abby and her assailant.

"Release her or I will shoot you in the head!" Becker commanded. The Cleaner maneuvered Abby to shield him from any line of fire coming from Becker and Danny and in doing so made her cry out in pain.

"Tell us what you want," said Danny, keeping his voice as even and calm as possible. "Did Helen Cutter send you?"

"Cutter. Lester. Maitland. Temple. Becker. Page. Quinn. Anomaly Research Center," replied The Cleaner monotonously, as if reciting. "Cutter. Lester. Maitland. Temple. Becker. Page. Quinn. Anomaly Research Center."

"The way he's holding her," whispered Becker to the other two. "It's consistent with a jujitsu technique for breaking a neck. If his index finger moves to her chin, he's going to do it." Connor felt the bile rising up in his throat and he choked it down. He lined his gun up with The Cleaner's head as best he could. The man was over a foot taller than Abby, giving a near clear shot from Connor's perspective. He wouldn't miss, he couldn't miss.

"Cutter. Lester. Maitland. Temple. Becker. Page. Quinn. Anomaly Research Center," The Cleaner repeated, then added on,"Destroy." His index finger shifted just like Becker said it would and Connor pulled the trigger. When the blood shot like a fountain from the side of Abby's neck and she slumped forward, Connor knew he'd made the mistake of a lifetime. A second shot rang out, this time from Becker who nailed The Cleaner right between the eyes. Abby fell to the ground when The Cleaner's grip released her as he dropped dead. The three men rushed to Abby, and Becker immediately applied pressure to the wound on her neck. Iit was useless. Blood gushed between his fingers as a dark pool gathered beneath her.

"Her carotid artery's been severed!" Becker cried. "She's bleeding out!"

"Abby!!" Connor sobbed, taking hold of her hand. There was a brief flutter of motion as she tried to close her hand around his, but she was too weak. "Abby! I'm so sorry! Please hold on, I love you!" Becker pulled his hand away and let her blood flow freely on to the pavement below. "What are you doing!?"

"She'd gone Connor. She's dead."

"Abby! Abby, no! ABBY!" Danny was pulling him away from Abby's body but Connor couldn't tear his gaze away from her cold lifeless wide staring eyes. "ABBY!"

***

Connor shot up in bed with a strangled cry. There were tears streaming down his face and he was overcome with a violent shaking that encompassed his whole body. The nightmare was as real as anything he'd experienced in his life. In his dream he'd relived was precisely what he'd experienced twenty four hours earlier, save for one vital detail. Connor _had_ been the first to shoot. He'd acted on pure instinct, except in reality his shot was precise and on target. He'd hit The Cleaner square between the eyes. He fell away and Abby was free and running into Connor's open arms. She was sobbing and clutching him for all he was worth. Connor held her just as tight.

"Shhh, sweetheart, you're okay. I've got you," he soothed, kissing her face and neck.

"Connor!" she sobbed, over come with emotion and adrenaline. "Connor you saved me!" She kissed him then, like she had so long ago after they'd returned from the future. Only this time there an intensity behind it that made his knees feel weak. He pulled her closer and returned her embrace with equal fervor. Danny cleared his throat and it broke through their fog. They pulled apart and had the common sense to look a little embarrassed.

"Good work, Connor," said Danny.

"Thanks to you," replied Connor. Danny had been instructing him at the shooting range and Connor was becoming a pretty accurate shot.

"I can teach you to aim straight, but having the courage to take the shot under pressure and not screw up is another. So, where do you suppose he came from?" Danny motioned to the dead body of The Cleaner laying on the pavement. "Through the anomaly?"

"He must've. We should unlock it and investigate what's on the other side. Abby, love, you should go home."

"I'm not leaving your side, Connor," she replied, taking hold of his arm. "Deal with it."

"You need to get some ice on your eye otherwise it'll be a swollen mess tomorrow."

"Connor's right Abby," Danny said. "How's your shoulder."

"The muscles are pulled and I'm sore, but I don't care. I don't give a toss about my eye, guys," she replied, getting her back up. "I made a mistake wandering off and Connor corrected it. I'm still a part of the team, Danny!"

"Alright, alright, have it your way. You two stick together. That's an order." Danny turned to Becker, telling him to get a team ready to travel through to the other side. Abby started pulling Connor along and he followed. When they were sufficiently away from eavesdroppers or prying eyes Abby inched closer to Connor and snaked her arms around his waist.

"Abby?" Connor inquired, securing his arm over her shoulders.

"I thought I was going to die," she replied in a hushed voice. "You know how they say your whole life flashes before your eyes?"

"Yeah."

"Well, my whole life didn't, just the last three years... with you. Remind me when we get back home tonight to show you how much I love you." Connor stopped dead in his tracks.

"Ab...Abby? What did you just say?" She merely smiled at him and continued on towards the anomaly.

On the other side they found themselves inside an abandoned lab. They were approximately seven stories up from ground level. They could see through the grime covered windows that the world outside was an abandoned wasteland. They were in the future. It was night outside and the lab was dark save for the glow of computer screens and the backlit tanks that lined two walls that contained the semi formed bodies of The Cleaner. They'd found Helen Cutter's cloning facility. Trying to ignore the gruesome sight of the bodies in the tanks, Connor got down to work analyzing the computer system that held everything that was holding the facility's operations together. Obviously Helen couldn't be there 100% of the time and since her death, the system had been running on manual. It took him a few hours to get past Helen's passwords and encryptions, they were sophisticated, but they were not her own. It wasn't something she had a knack for. She obviously hadn't designed the system either. Connor soon uncovered the truth. Once the bodies reached a certain growth, when the brain and central nervous system was fully formed, the computer fed the clone's brain via electrical impulses into which information and behavioral protocols had been programmed. It was the work of a genius. A _mad _genius.

After a soldier's genesis process had been completed he was removed from the tank and put in the scrubs like the dead Cleaner had worn and was placed in an alcove where they are further conditioned to obey Helen Cutter. Once the process was complete, they were to wait for an anomaly to appear and go through it to carry out their mission - to destroy The ARC and its people by any means necessary. There was no one in the alcove, but it had been recently vacated, the computer records showed that. Once Connor had a handle on everything, Danny ordered Becker's team to pack up all transportable units and computers and return to The ARC with them. None of the clones in tanks were of sufficient development to be viable outside of their artificial wombs. Ultimately Danny made the decision to allow them to be terminated. None of them were technically alive to begin with. Most of their limbs hadn`t grown, nor their faces.

Abby hadn`t been able to bear looking at anything other than Connor as he worked. She watched his fingers work tirelessly over the keyboard, watched his face as his mind worked out the solutions to the problems presented before him. Every now and again she`d stroke the hair at the back of his neck and he`d tilt his head back into her touch. After several hours of his sitting in the same position she kneaded his stiff shoulders. Abby knew letting it slip about the fact that she loved him had shook him up, but she also hoped it gave him a much needed boost. She`d seen the fear in his eyes when The Cleaner had her in his clutches. He looked like he was dying inside. Somehow he`d still managed the courage to take that shot and save her. He was a hero through and through.

Once they were back on their side of the anomaly, the equipment was sent back to The ARC and men were left behind to await the anomaly`s closure, with locking mechanism on hand in case something went awry. The parking structure would be closed until the situation was resolved. The rest of the team was sent home for the night. Upon entering their flat, Connor tended to the animals and Abby went to the bathroom to inspect her injuries. She was lucky he hadn`t broken any bones, given how her eye was swollen and the colour was decided purple. His fist was virtually the size of her entire head. The skin had been broken on the apple of her cheek and she gingerly cleaned and disinfected it . Afterwards she padded the way to her bedroom and changed into her pajamas. When she returned to the living room Connor was waiting for her with an ice pack and a cup of tea with her favourite biscuits. She took a seat next to him on the couch and allowed him to tend to her wound, gently holding the ice pack to her face.

"Does it hurt?" he asked in a quiet voice. "It looks like it does."

"Yeah, it does. It's okay though, I'll survive. I'll take some painkillers before bed. Conn, why don't you go change into something comfortable and come to join me on the couch. We can... talk."

"Talk, eh? About what you said earlier?"

"Yes, about that. Go on, you're knackered. I'll still be here when you come back."

"Okay, love. Drink your tea, I'll be right back." He handed her the ice pack and jetted upstairs to change. Connor was feeling particularly positive regarding his and Abby's relationship. It had been a long hard road to achieve what they had now. So many walls had to come down first, but they finally had. Abby was everything to him and to have her return his affections was a miracle. Last night he'd almost lost her. He sat himself down on his bed and relived the moment over in his mind. He hadn't been remotely aware of his own thoughts as he'd pulled the trigger, he'd been relying on pure instinct. What if he'd missed? Abby would've surely died and it would've been on his shoulders. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and changed into his sweats and a tshirt. He descended the stairs back to the living room, eager to have his conversation with Abby, and hopefully a little more than conversation. He was disappointed when he found her asleep on the couch. She was snuggled up with the hoodie he'd left there two days previous. The ice pack was on the coffee table and her tea was untouched. Connor sighed, she looked too peaceful to disturb. She'd had a long day too and he decided it was best to leave her as she was. He went to her bedroom to retrieve her duvet and laid it over her before returning to his own bedroom to try and get a decent night's sleep. Their conversation would keep until morning.

***

The first thing Connor was aware of after waking from his nightmare was the sound of feet rushing up the stairs leading to his bedroom. Abby was with him seconds later, holding him in her arms. "I shot you!" Connor gasped.

"No you didn't, Conn. I'm here, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare," she responded, hugging him tightly. He nodded his head and breathed out a long shuddering breath.

"Sorry." He let her go and rested back against the headboard. "I dreamt I shot you instead of him."

"Oh, Connor." She lay herself atop him, resting her head on his heart and wrapping her arms around his torso.

"Abby, I killed someone!"

"He wasn't a real person. He was a clone grown in a lab. He was programmed to kill all of us. He didn't have a mind of his own. You can't grieve for a life like that."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. But still... "

"I know, and I'm sorry, but he would've killed me if you hadn't have shot him."

"I couldn't bear losing you, I had to do it." He wrapped his arms around her and they stayed silent for a long stretch of time, taking comfort in each other.

"Connor, I have fallen hopelessly in love with you," Abby spoke. "Just in case you were still wondering."

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that."

"I have a pretty good idea."

"I love you too, Abby." She craned her neck and pressed a kiss to his stubbly chin. She yawned and snuggled down into him. After several minutes of silence he spoke again. "Sleep, love."

"Hmmmmm?"

"Go to sleep, Abby. Have sweet dreams."

"You too... " Her voice was barely a whisper and she fell asleep in seconds. There was a fierce and attendant comfort when she was with Connor, like nothing bad in the world could touch her. Connor sighed and tried to fell back asleep, but he was still haunted by his nightmare, and he suspected he would be for weeks to come. The heat and weight of Abby's body on his did help to make the memories recede. But the events were still too fresh and too raw to forget entirely, even for a second. Abby's logic was correct, The Cleaner clone wasn't someone he should feel ill over having to kill, yet the knowledge that he extinguished a life unsettled him. But in defense of Abby? He had no doubt he'd kill anyone to preserve her life. That troubled him even more than the act of putting a bullet in The Cleaner's head. He told himself he'd have to learn to live with that. Every man had his demons, afterall. But not every man had a woman like Abby to love. Abby was worth it, at any cost.

Connor felt her stir and she rolled over nestle down at his side. "Mmmm, Connor," she sighed in her sleep, he hand flexing across his chest like a contended kitten. She had a smile on her face and was obviously having a very lovely dream. Connor closed his eyes and relaxed. She was worth it.

The End


End file.
